From the past, a traction control technique has been employed for preventing and eliminating the free spinning state of the tires of a moving vehicle that has a plurality of driving wheels, such as a four wheeled vehicle or the like. For implementing this kind of traction control, the slip ratios of the respective driving wheels are very important variables. Due to this, techniques of various types have been proposed for estimating these slip ratios.
For example, a technique in which the slip ratios are calculated on the basis of the time integrated values of motor torque and the rotational speeds of the driving wheels (refer to Patent Document #1, hereinafter termed “Prior Art Example #1”) and a technique in which the speed of the vehicle body is obtained by time integrating the output of an acceleration sensor, and the slip ratios are calculated by employing the rotational speeds of the driving wheels (refer to Patent Document #2, hereinafter termed “Prior Art Example #2”) have been proposed.
Furthermore, a technique in which the vehicle body speed is obtained from the rotational speed of a vehicle wheel that is not being driven, and the slip ratios are calculated by employing the rotational speeds of the driving wheels (refer to Patent Document #3, hereinafter termed “Prior Art Example #3”) and a technique in which the drive characteristics of the driving wheels are modeled, the speeds of the ground contact surfaces of the driving wheels are calculated, and the slip ratios are calculated from the results of the above calculations and from the rotational speeds of the driving wheels (refer to Patent Document #4, hereinafter termed “Prior Art Example #4”) have also been proposed.